Oxford Conducting Workshops
Conducting is the sound of a musician who makes no sound
Workshops constitute a comprehensive and durable educational program
Motivating professional environment
Focused on the individual needs of each participant.
Distinguished teachers
Provide an encouraging and productive teaching process which includes all aspects of conducting.
Increase your professional network
Share your musical inspiration with experienced musicians and well-established soloists.
Discover your strengths
Interact and collaborate within an enriching social context and find your holistic inspiration.
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Our program
Course 5
January 27th -28th, 2024
TOBY PURSER works with
Course 6
Paul Murphy
Our Faculty
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Jessica Cottis
Named ‘2019 Classical “Face to Watch”’ (The Times) and described as a “cool, contained, super-articulate and engaging” (The Scotsman), conductor Jessica Cottis is much in demand, working regularly with leading orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier, as well as numerous re-invitations at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the prestigious BBC Proms.
One of the most outstanding Australian conductors working today, Jessica Cottis is especially recognised for her work in new music and for her engaging, wide-ranging and thought-provoking programming. Her formative education was as an organist, gaining firstclass honours at the Australian National University, and continuing her studies in Paris with pioneering French organist Marie-Claire Alain. A wrist injury halted her playing career, and she went on to study conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and was subsequently mentored by Sir Donald Runnicles, Charles Dutoit, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Jessica Cottis resides in London, experiences music as colour, is an avid lepidopterist.
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William Conway
William Conway is an internationally-renowned conductor, cellist and artistic director.
Currently he teaches conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, William held the position of Principal Cello with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for ten years. Combined with the present post of Principal Cello with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, of which he is a founder member. William is an Artistic Director of Hebrides Ensemble and Music Director of Edinburgh Studio Opera.
William studied conducting in Helsinki with Jukka-Pekka Saraste. In 1994 he was a finalist and prizewinner of Leeds Conductors’ Competition. He made his BBC Proms conducting debut in 2018 with staged performances of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale.
His recent opera projects include Verdi’s Otello, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Puccini’s Tosca. His performances have been described as ‘astonishingly convincing’ (Opera magazine), ‘a tour de force’ (Guardian), with ‘a flair for the unpredictable’ (Financial Times).
He has recently recorded a filmed performance of Passio by Arvo Pärt with Hebrides Ensemble and Dunedin Consort.
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Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy is Principal Conductor of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and its orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. In addition to an extensive touring schedule both in the UK and abroad, their work together includes concerts and recordings.
Paul studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music with Colin Metters, John Carewe, George Hurst and Sir Colin Davis. He was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 1997.
Paul began his regular collaboration with the Covent Garden in 1994, working with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. He has conducted various of the UK’s finest ensembles including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North. As well as worked abroad with the Bergen Philharmonic, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Washington National Opera Orchestra, the Sofia Opera Orchestra the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo in Sicily and the Ulster Orchestra.
As a guest conductor he performed with New York City Ballet, the Royal Ballet of Flanders, Dutch National Ballet, The Australian Ballet, NDT 1, Acosta Danza, Finnish National Ballet and, most recently, Tokyo Ballet, with whom he conducted performances of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring at La Scala, Milan in July 2019.
He has made numerous recordings for BBC Radio 3, BBC Television, Channel 4. Paul released CDs with the Hallé (the complete music for piano and orchestra by Saint Saens), The Royal Ballet Sinfonia ( The Tales of Beatrix Potter and Les Patineurs) the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra (music by Butterworth, Delius and Korngold) and an NHK broadcast of Coppelia with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.
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Toby Purser
Toby Purser is recognised as one of the world’s leading conducting mentors, he is a committed advocate and support to many early- career conductors. Through his positions as Head of Conducting at the Royal College of Music, director of the Vienna Opera Academy, and of the Aberystwyth MusicFest Conductors Course, he is also passionate about passing on the wisdom and heritage learnt from his own teachers Ilya Musin, George Hurst and Colin Metters.
Toby Purser’s conducting is recognised for its combination of passion and intellect, poetry and drama. Since 2019, Toby Purser has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Orion Orchestra, which he founded in 2005 and developed into one of London’s great orchestral successes, now recognised as a leading organisation for young musicians.
Toby Purser is a Music Director of New Sussex Opera. His inspirational music-making has prompted guest invitations from English National Opera (where he has conducted The Turn of the Screw, The Marriage of Figaro and La Traviata) Grange Park Opera ( Madama Butterfly, Eugene Onegin, Rigoletto and Fortunio), Buxton Festival, and with Opera della Luna The Daughter of the Regiment, Orpheus in the Underworld, the UK premiere of Johann Strauss’s operetta Das Spitzentuch der Königin, and Tales of Offenbach.
In 2019, his operatic collaborations were nominated for an Olivier Award (Best New Opera Production – Britten The Turn of the Screw with ENO/Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and an International Opera Award (Best Rediscovered Work – Stanford The Travelling Companion with New Sussex Opera.
Various professional orchestras and ensembles has enjoyed inspiring and exiting worked together with Toby Purser – Opéra National de Paris, St Petersburg Festival Orchestra and many leading British orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Sinfonia Viva.
Courses are designed to give all participants, independent of their conducting level and experience, an opportunity to use their podium time in the most productive way.
We encourage our teachers to guide participants in a way that highlights the personality of each conductor.
We invite you to be an active part of the process of learning and making music together : asking questions, interacting with both teaches and musicians, thus creating an inspiring environment to find your personal solutions in the art of conducting.